The concentrated smoke issuing directly from a lit smoking article such as a cigarette is thought by at least some people to be more objectionable than smoke which has been dispersed in a large amount of air, and there have been many devices in the prior art which have attempted to filter such smoke issuing directly from a lighted smoking articles and have, in the process, dispersed the smoke as well. Some examples of such devices are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,516,232 and involve creating an airflow from a lit cigarette in an ashtray through a filter such as a charcoal filter by an impeller, or by a smokestack effect created by an electric bulb at the base of a chimney-like tube. Other examples of devices of this type are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,807,148 and 3,797,205, and another device of this type is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,043,776. There are many other devices which primarily, or incidentally, filter or break up the smoke issuing directly from lit smoking articles, and some are illustrated in the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,013,498; 2,029,192; 2,747,101; 2,788,085; and 3,362,416.
One of the desirable characteristics of devices of this type is portability so they can be readily moved from place to place, as the conventional ashtray is typically moved. Many of the known prior art devices of this type do not have this desirable characteristic and require electrical connection to a wall outlet or are large in size, making them inconvenient to so move from place to place. As to the known prior art devices which are battery powered, a major desirable characteristic of these devices is efficiency of operation so that battery power can be conserved and useful life prolonged. It is believed that many of the battery operated prior art devices of this type use filtering arrangements that require substantial power and therefor substantial battery drain to force an airflow through the filter, while others are believed to have less than optimal flow arrangements. It is believed therefor that there is a need for a smoke dispersal device which is highly portable, so that it can be conveniently moved from place to place, as a regular ashtray is normally moved by a smoker, and which additionally has a highly efficient air or fluid flow so that the battery drain is relatively low, but which at the same time effectively disperses the smoke so as to reduce objectionable concentration thereof. The invention here is directed to satisfying this need, and is additionally directed to a device of this type which can be conveniently disassembled for cleaning.
The invented smoke dispersal device is battery operated. It includes an ashtray and a hollow accumulator tube open at the bottom and registering with the ashtray to receive smoke rising from a lit smoking article in the ashtray. The accumulator tube has air inlet means comprising at least one cutout (and typically one large and two small cutouts) in its sidewall so as to take in air to be mixed with the smoke from the smoking article. Additionally, the accumulator tube has a top opening, and a ram tube extends from that top opening downwardly into its hollow interior. A hollow main body tube is disposed over the accumulator tube and the ram tube. A tubular motor housing is placed within the main body tube but is spaced inwardly from its sidewall so as to leave an annular flow channel between the sidewall of the main body tube and the sidewall of the motor housing. The motor housing contains batteries and an electric motor which has a shaft extending downwardly through a suitable aperture at the bottom of the motor housing. The shaft carries an impeller rotatable in a space below the motor housing and above the ram tube to force a fluid flow from the interior of the accumulator tube up through the ram tube and then up through the annular channel between the main body tube and the motor housing. A top lid fits over the motor housing and the main body tube and leaves an outlet comprising a dispersal slot between the rim of the lid and the top of the sidewall of the main body tube, through which the fluid forced up by the impeller can leave the device. A perforated dispersal ring extends radially inwardly from the sidewall of the main body tube to the motor housing such that the fluid flow must go through the perforations in it. This passage through the performations make the flow turbulent (or more turbulent) and thoroughly breaks up the smoke contained in it. The rim of the top lid surrounds the sidewall of the main body tube such that the flow which proceeds up through the annular channel must be reversed in direction to exit downwardly along the exterior of the sidewall of the main body tube or radially outwardly, to be thereby further broken up and made more turbulent. The top opening of the motor housing is sealed by the top lid, which has only an opening for a switch lever for turning the motor off and on, and keeps smoke or ashes from getting into the motor housing and interfering with the operation of the motor, the batteries or the switch.
An absorber of a material similar to blotting paper may be placed along the interior cylindrical surface of the main body tube, and the absorber may be saturated or otherwise provided with a chemical which removes some of the harmful ingredients of smoke and/or deodorizes the air exiting from the device. In addition, or instead, several containers for such chemical may be formed in the device, such as at the top surface of the accumulator tube, around the ram tube. A valve ring may be used to close these containers, or to open them to the desired degree.
An ash screen having low resistance to air flow through it may, but need not, be placed over the ram tube. In fact, it has been discovered that satisfactory dispersal is achieved when no ash screen (or any filtering device) is used, and in such case the battery life can be prolonged significantly.
In operation, a lit smoking article such as a cigarette is placed on the ashtray such that the smoke from it rises within the interior of the accumulator tube, and the motor is turned on such that the impeller forces an upward fluid flow which is mainly air but contains some smoke from the smoking article and perhaps some ashes. This fluid flow proceeds up through the ram tube, where it is concentrated and speeded up, and then proceeds up through the annular channel. Before leaving the annual channel the flow passes through the perforations of the dispersal ring, and then goes further up to the lid, reverses direction, and exits downwardly between the rim of the top lid and the exterior of the sidewall of the main body tube or radially outwardly. When exiting, the mixture of air and smoke (and perhaps very small ash particles) is so mixed and broken up and so dispersed in large amounts of air that the smoke or any small ash particles are invisible or nearly so, and the smoke is difficult to smell or is at least less offensive to people bothered by direct, concentrated smoke.
The invented device is constructed such that it can be taken apart for cleaning easily, without any tools. The ashtray is friction-fitted within the accumulator tube and is easily pulled off by hand. The accumulator tube friction-fits into the main body tube and is easily pulled off by hand. When the accumulator base and the main body tube are taken apart, the valve ring can be conveniently removed, and the containers refilled. The top lid pulls off easily from its friction-fit over the top of the main body tube, and with it goes the motor housing with its contents. The motor housing can be separated from the top lid by simply pulling off the friction-fitted top lid. Then all of the parts, except the contents of the motor housing, can be washed, and even the impeller below the motor housing can be immersed in water for washing. Since the motor housing is sealed by the top lid during operation of the device, smoke and ashes are kept from getting inside it, and there is no need to wash or otherwise clean its interior. The device is assembled by hand with comparable ease.
A significant advantage of the invented device is that it does not force the smoke and air mixture through any filters but instead has a relatively unobstructed flow, with attendant low power drainage on the batteries and long battery life. Even in the embodiment which uses an ash screen, the mesh is large and the flow resistance low. In the embodiment which does not use even an ash filter, the battery life is prolonged even further. Each of the embodiments nevertheless so mixes and disperses the smoke that the smoke becomes invisible or nearly so and tends to become considerably less objectionable to people who find direct smoke objectionable.